The Deaths of Ananias, Sapphira and Judas

Lastly, the chief of the apostles was taught by these examples. He knew that one who has any avarice cannot bridle it, and that it cannot be ended by a large or a small sum of money, but only by the virtue of renouncing everything. So he punished with death Ananias and Sapphira, whom we mentioned before, because they had kept back something of their property, so that for their lying avarice they too might suffer the death that Judas had met of his own accord for the sin of betraying the Lord. [a]

How closely the sin and the punishment match in each case! In the one case treachery, in the other falsehood, was the result of greed. In the one the truth is betrayed; in the other the sin of lying is committed. For though the outcomes of their deeds may look different, they agree in having one and the same aim. The one, to escape poverty, wanted to take back what he had given up; the others, for fear of becoming poor, tried to keep back something of their property, which they should either have offered to the apostle in good faith or have given entirely to the brothers. So in each case the judgment of death follows, because each sin sprang from the root of greed. So if so severe a sentence went out against those who did not covet other people’s goods but tried to be sparing with their own, and who had no desire to acquire but only the wish to keep, what should we think of those who want to pile up wealth without ever having had any of their own, and who, making a show of poverty before men, are convicted before God of being rich through the passion of avarice?